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Y&R ANZ (formerly known as "George Patterson Y&R) is an Australasian advertising agency with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The New Zealand arm of Y&R Group's direct advertising agency operates as Y&R NZ and has offices in Auckland and Wellington. The agency was formed in 2005 when the international advertising holding conglomerate WPP Group acquired the Australian marketing communications company, The Communications Group (TCG).

History

The George Patterson agency was founded on 1 November 1934. George Patterson had started his advertising career at the age of 18 in 1908 and within a year had become Australia’s youngest advertising manager, at McPherson’s, a large engineering company. He left McPherson’s in 1913, wanting to gain experience of advertising overseas. He took on the job of advertising manager at a magazine in New York, before returning to Australia at the outbreak of war in 1914. Patterson served in a medical unit in Africa during the war, and in 1919 started his first agency. A partnership with Norman Catts followed, and Catts-Patterson became Australia’s largest agency.

One of the agency’s early clients was Palmolive. In 1921, George Patterson heard about a shipment of soap that had been destined for sale in the Far East, but the sale had fallen through. It had been diverted to Australia, and was waiting at the docks in Sydney before being sold to a wholesaler. Patterson contacted Palmolive and convinced the company that there was a market for their brand in Australia, "because the soap was already well-known through the circulation of American magazines." He offered to launch the brand, and it was a great success. Within two years a factory was under construction in Sydney, and all advertising was handled by George Patterson. The agency continues to work with Colgate-Palmolive to this day.

In 2017, George Patterson Y&R (GPY&R) was rebranded to Y&R ANZ.

Merged businesses

TCG's primary advertising asset was the George Patterson agency which had dominated the Australian advertising market throughout the 2nd half of the 20th century. Known as "Patts" in the industry, the business had been George Patterson Advertising from its formation in 1934 when George Patterson demerged the Sydney and Melbourne business he had started in 1918 from Catts-Patterson; George Patterson Bates from the 1990s, when the agency's long-standing Asian affiliation with Bates Worldwide was formalised with an acquisition by Bates, then one of the two worldwide network holdings of Saatchi & Saatchi PLC; and George Patterson Partners at the time of the WPP acquisition, having been primed for sale under that name by the TCG management-buyout group since 2003.

WPP merged the Australian offices of its worldwide Young & Rubicam brand with George Patterson. WPP had acquired the worldwide Young & Rubicam brand in 2000.

Leadership

Leading Y&R ANZ is Regional (ANZ) Chief Executive Officer Phil McDonald, who is stationed at the Australian head office in Sydney. Also situated in Sydney are Regional (ANZ) Chief Financial Officer Rachel Naughton, Chief Creative Officer (Australia) Paul Nagy, and Regional (ANZ) Head of Retail Danny Lattouf. Across the Tasman, Josh Moore holds the combined titles of Regional (ANZ) Chief Creative Officer, and Chief Executive Officer (New Zealand).

Y&R ANZ is also supported by strong local office leadership: Adam Kennedy (Y&R Brisbane Managing Director), Matt Farrugia and Julian Bell (Y&R Melbourne Managing Partners), Jono Key (Y&R New Zealand Managing Director), and Sasha Firth (Y&R Sydney Managing Director).

Accolades

Y&R ANZ has won a number of awards and accolades:

• No. 1 ranked Australian Agency 2012 AdNews and No. 1 ranked Australian Network 2012 AdNews
• Cannes Lions 2012 Australian Agency of the Year
• Effies 2012 Effectiveness Agency of the Year
• World’s Top Ten Agencies, Gunn Report 2013
• ADMA 2013 Australian agency of the year

In 2013 Y&R Group was 9th in BRW's Most Innovative Companies list.

Controversy

The agency attracted controversy in May 2011 after it won a contract to "clean up" the social media policy of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). As well as criticising the decision not to relegate the task to the Government, a law firm or risk management consultant, journalist Ian McPhedran reported that "Senior staff at the advertising agency promote degrading images of women and post bizarre messages on their social networking accounts." The social networking accounts, which at the time could be accessed via links on the firm's home page, referred to then Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a lesbian, and featured guides on topics such as "making your own sex toys". CEO Russel Howcroft admitted to being a member of the "Pippa Middleton Ass Appreciation Society" group on Facebook. Other staff members could be seen drunk, one could be seen in a simulated sex act and others tweet statements such as "Where can I buy a Kate Middleton blow-up doll?". A spokesperson for George Patterson Y&R stated: "We do not believe that this material is in any way relevant to an assessment of the nature or quality of the professional services that GPY&R provides." On May 21, the scandal was the top trending item on news.com.au and was described as "the most powerful Australian examples yet of agency staff's personal online behaviour being linked to their professional lives". Concerns were also raised that the ADF had a conflict of interest in awarding the contract to George Patterson Y&R. The agency lost their contract with the ADF in 2013 to competitors Havas.

References

1. Ryan, Rosemary (27 October 2005). "WPP Announces What Everyone Already Knew". bandt.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
2. "AdNews: Advertising Rankings 2012, Round 2 - AdNews". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
3. "GPY&R Shines At Cannes 2012 - LBBOnline". Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
4. "Effie Winners 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. "ADMA Awards proves big night for GPY&R, McCann - B&T". 4 November 2013. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
6. "50 Most Innovative Companies 2013: 9. Y&R Group". 28 November 2013. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help); no-break space character in |title= at position 42 (help)
7. McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". The Advertiser. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) McPhedran, Ian (21 May 2011). "Defence review team's sex controversy". Perth Now. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
8. Burrowes, Tim (21 May 2011). "GPY&R staff become the story after newspaper links online comments to Skype sex scandal". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
9. Cook, Andrew (10 May 2011). "'No conflict' over Defence Force social media probe". Crikey. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. Hayes, Alex (5 December 2013). "Defence Force moves to Havas from George Patterson Y&R". Mumbrella. {{cite web}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

• Y&R ANZ (official website)

• Use dmy dates from June 2011
• Advertising agencies of Australia